Twenty Years Ago Today

The Tiananmen Square massacre has largely faded from the collective memory of a world that would rather do business with China than hold it accountable for its actions. These two statements, from today’s AP story, tell you all you need to know about the willingness of the Chinese government to face its actions honestly:

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Clinton said in a statement Wednesday that China, as an emerging global power, “should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal.”

“We urge the U.S. to put aside its political prejudice and correct its wrongdoing and refrain from disrupting or undermining bilateral relations,” Qin said in response to a question at a regularly scheduled news briefing. Qin refused to comment on the security measures [that are preventing any kind of public commemoration in Beijing today] — or even acknowledge they were in place.

But not everywhere in China is so helpless in the face of government repression. Hong Kong remembers, as 150,000 gather for a candlelight vigil: